Amusement and educational toy



Nov. 11, 1969 I F. E.-WOLF Y 3,477,166

AMUSEMENT AND EDUCATIONAL TOY Filed Aug. 5, 1965 FIG.Z

FIG. 3

INVENTOR. FRANK E. WOLF United States Patent 3,477,166 AMUSEMENT AND EDUCATIONAL TOY Frank E. Wolf, 1240 Ashby State Road, Fitchburg, Mass. 01420 Filed Aug. 5, 1965, Ser. No. 477,527 Int. Cl. A63h 33/14, 9/00 US. Cl. 46-1 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to creative devices which are particularly adapted for amusing and educating young children. Despite the inventions simplicity and relatively low cost, the invention absorbs the interest of young children for exceptionally long periods of time and enhances their natural creativity.

Many toys and games are known which provide for artistic creativity. Such toys range from crayon sets and coloring books to various cutouts, paste books and stencils. In most cases, cutout materials require the use of a scissor or preselected guide lines on a sheet to form a shape which is then glued to backers of varying types using a supplementary adhesive or an adhesive carried on the back of a cutout. Such materials require separate coloring and adhesive layers and are frequently messy often resulting in the necessity for careful cleanup operations after use by young children.

Accordingly, it is an important object of this invention to provide a means and method for creating designs and illustrations using a cutout or punched out shape or shapes on a hacker or on each other without the necessity of employing a coated or supplementary adhesive.

Another object of this invention is to provide a means and method in accordance with the preceding object which provides for adhesion of various colored shapes to each other or a backer utilizing a harmless and readily available activating agent.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a means and method in accordance with the preceding objects which is extremely inexpensive yet highly versatile allowing unlimited creativity and expression by a user.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a means and method in accordance with the preceding objects which is extremely easy to use to form two or three dimensional illustrations and models.

According to the invention, an amusement and educational means comprises a first water soluble colored plastic sheet and at least one other water soluble colored plastic sheet. Means are provided in the sheets for forming shapes which may be cut or punched from each sheet. And means are provided for adhering the shapes to each other without the use of a supplementary adhesive substance. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the water soluble plastic sheets are colored polyvinyl alcohol sheets having sufiicient thickness so that they may be wet with water on any surface and will adhere to each other or to a paper backing. Thus a user can cut or punch a rectangle from one sheet and a circle from another sheet and thus form a geometric design by combining the two with each other or with each other on a backing merely by activating adjacent surfaces with water. This results in a multicolored design which is highly pleasing particularly to young children. When the sheets are prepunched with varying designs, younger children may be easily educated so as to be able to identify triangles, rectangles, circles and the like with the aid of the toy of this invention.

These and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more fully understood from the accompanying specification and description of the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a sheet useful in the preferred embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a second sheet useful in the preferred embodiment of this invention;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an assembled pictorial illustration in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a view of a three dimensional toy made in accordance with the method of this invention.

Turning now to the drawings, a toy kit in accordance with this invention is made up of at least two sheets of a colored water soluble plastic as illustrated at 10 and 11 in FIGS. 1 and 2. Preferably a backer 12 is included in the kit and a water applicator (not shown) such as a sponge can also be included.

The sheets such as 10 and 11 are preferably of identical size although varying size sheets may be used. As shown each sheet is preferably rectangular and includes a series of perforations 13 to allow punching out of a predetermined geometric configuration such as circle 14 or rectangle 15. Sheets 10 and 11 are colored differently and sheet 10 may be red while sheet 11 is blue. Each sheet is composed of any of the well-known water soluble plastics in film form such as polyvinyl alcohol, gelatin and carboxymethyl cellulose. Such films are conventionally formed by casting calendering or extruding techniques. Conventional dyes and pigments are added to the sheets to uniformly color them to desired colors. Polyvinyl alcohol plastic sheets or films are preferred for use in this invention since they are readily soluble in water at room temperature and will adhere easily to each other or to various backers when wet with water at room temperature. Elvanol 51-05, a polyvinyl alcohol produced by E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. of Wilmington, Del., has been found useful in forming the pigmented sheets of this invention. These sheets can be dyed or pigmented with well-known agents such as titanium oxide, zinc oxide, iron oxide, fuchsine, pontacyl green and others. Polyvinyl alcohol sheets can be dissolved in water and used as a paint set and when appropriate dyes are incorporated, the sheets can change color when actuated by sunlight or other stimulants.

Preferably the sheets have a thickness of at least 0.004 inch and are translucent. The toy kit is used by hand punching out of the patterns 14 and 15 and adhering them to a backing. Since the thickness of the sheet is such that the film will not entirely dissolve when wet, a conventional paint brush, sponge, textile rag or other means can be used to apply water to a surface of one of the cutouts and adhere it to the other. Similarly the cutout may then be adhered to a backer sheet such as 12. The backer sheet 12 can be any material which will adhere to the water soluble plastic when it is wet with water. In some cases the backing 12 can be wet and the dried sheet cutouts or shapes pressed thereagainst.

As shown in FIG. 3, circle 14 and rectangle 15 are overlapped and adhered to the sheet 12 merely by applying water to contacting surfaces of the shapes and to surfaces which contact the backer sheet 12. When 14 and 15 are transparent or translucent the overlapped portions appear as a blended third color as at 16.

The backer sheet 12 can be of thin paper, plastic, metal or wood or any suitable material. In the preferred form, the sheet 12 is a simple paper blank.

In an alternate embodiment of the invention, perforations or other tearing means need not be used and the colored sheets can be cut by the user using his creativity to form shapes which can later be applied to a backing or to each other. In some cases the backer sheet 12 can carry an outline of a doll, clown or other shape. Suitable shapes can be cut from the sheets and 11 and used to fill in the outline to form the figure outlined on the backer sheet or to build up and color a precut figure.

In still another use of the toy kit of this invention, a rectangle such as is formed into a ring by joining ends of the rectangle with the disc or circle 14 as shown in FIG. 4. The shapes are joined together by applying water to contacting surfaces as previously described and allowing the water to evaporate whereupon the contacting surfaces are reformed as integral connectings portions between the two original shapes. Three dimensional objects of varying sizes and shapes can easily be formed, limited only by the creativity of the user.

While specific embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that many variations thereof are possible. For example, the means for weakening the plastic sheets to enable rapid removal of preformed shapes can be indentations, perforations or other known means. The outline of or on each sheet can be circular, irregular or have other forms. The colored sheets can be opaque or transparent. In some cases a backing surface is provided by rounded or other than flat shaped objects. The

particular three dimensional designs formed are innumcrable and allow for creativity. The kit of this invention can be used by adults to construct mobiles or other objects. Clear sheets may be included with the colored sheets in some uses. It is important that a water solvent be used in order to assure non-toxic, harmless and relatively clean usage of the toy of this invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy consisting essentially of a plurality of at least two different, water-soluble, self-supporting, colored plastic sheets, said sheets being adapted to be formed into a plurality of different shapes, said plastic sheets being connected at their adjacent facing surfaces by a bond integral with each of said facing surfaces, said bond being formed solely by the application of water to said facing surfaces, thereby dissolving and structurally changing said facing surfaces, and thereafter allowing said facing surfaces to dry to form said bond, said sheets each having a thickness of at least 0.004 inch.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,293,887 8/1942 Chamberlain -35 2,330,497 9/ 1943 Larmour. 2,348,220 5/ 1944 Kline.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner H. DINITZ, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 3535; 46l57 

